Tanking has always been at the upper echelon of raiding. Those players who can effectively tank in a raid are those that are ultimately destined to be the most popular in their guilds, the most watched in a raid and the most appreciated when the group experiences success. But, with recent changes to the rules of tanking and a whole new class thrown into the mix, the question of who can tank and when has become more and more relevant – so who exactly is best at tanking and why?

The Top of the Mix

The top of the pile always has been and probably always will be the Protection Warrior. With the top AoE threat in the game, the best armor, and the most effective means of maintaining their life in a close fight, a Protection Warrior is the best around. However, the gap between the top and number two has been narrowed considerably of late and raids no longer feel compelled to ensure every group has at least two of these warriors around to handle their bosses.

AoE Tanking All Mixed Up

In the past, there were only a handful of abilities out there that could AoE threat a group of mobs meaning that Prot Warriors were all but required for all groups. Now, every tanking class has at least one AoE threat ability, regardless of how well it works and can effectively tank for a group. That, along with stat amalgamation and gear restrictions easing up has made it so that Plate armor is less specialized and more capable of working across multiple borders.

Off Tanks No More

Along with Protection Warriors, Feral Druids, Protection Paladins, and now Frost Death Knights are all proving to be highly effective in the tanking realm. With their new AoE threats, the ability to stay alive longer with more inclusive gear, and the new ability to boost certain stats for Druids in Dire Bear form, tanking is generally more effective and all four of these specs can be a main tank if played well enough. Death Knights are arguably the hardest to maintain because they rely on avoidance more than absorption to handle damage and because they must heal themselves to stay alive (no shield), but top Death Knights have proven themselves more and more worthy as they have practiced and developed their strategies.

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WoW has 10 Classes to choose from. Your character (toon) can be a Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rouge, Shaman, Warlock or Warrior. The Death Knight is the only class all races can play but you have to already have a level 55 toon before you can make one. Before picking your class get to know the races and the bonuses they provide.

Druids are magic users, shape shifters and formidable fighters in their animal or humanoid forms.

The Hunter Class uses its pet as the main line of its defense along with its long range weapon but it, too, can be an effective melee fighter.

The Mage class is the weakest armored one. They use Nature and Arcane spells to hit a large area of enemies or a single target from a great distance and they can create portals to port themselves and others to major cities.

Paladins wear the heaviest armor, use almost all weapons, heal plus resurrect party members. They are a blended melee fighter and spell caster.

The Priest is one of the most powerful healers in WoW and they have good destructive spells. They also resurrect, shield and add powerful buffs to their party members.

Rouges are hard to kill. Their damage is done through poisons and rapid melee attacks while invisible.

If you want to be a little of everything then consider being a Shaman. They cast spells and use totems to heal or harm but can be used as a backup tank fighter as well.

Warlocks are the other class that have a fighting pet but their pets are demons. Warlocks destroy their enemies from a distance while protecting their party.

The last class is the Warrior. The warrior is a melee fighting machine, the game tank. They protect allies and crush foes with multiple tricks.

Each race in WoW allows several choices of class but not every class, except the Death Knight, is available to every race. With all the different races you can blend with different classes, you’ll never run out of characters to play.